1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for the disposition of fluid materials into discreet layers within a container, such layers being useful for medical purposes.
2. Prior Art
In the scientific and medical community, examination, analysis and utilization of certain types of fluid materials, may sometimes require that they be layered. Such materials may be comprised of a media, chemical buffers, solutions, and other fluids of other colloidal, viscosity and concentration properties on top of one another in a multi-layer or mono-layer arrangement. The prior art includes layering of solutions utilizing manual or automated pipetting procedures. Such procedures may utilize solutions in these pipettes, syringes, syringes with needles, or other apparatus, to generate layered samples, for use in various in-vitro laboratory or clinical procedures.
These prior art methods are relatively complex, tedious, inefficient, time consuming and experimentally improper. These prior art methods of layering are also susceptible to technician error and laboratory-to-laboratory variations, as well as to accidents. Also, none of these prior art techniques of layering, allow the placement or layering of the materials or solutions with any degree of ease, with any degree of extreme repeatability, or accuracy in all likelihood, due to their typically manual operation and their extremely high labor intensity.
It is an object of the present invention, to overcome the disadvantages of the error prone prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention, to provide a layering apparatus, which may be readily controlled, and is subject to repeatability of the procedure.